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Top Democratic Contenders Spar Ahead of New Hampshire Primary

Ken Bredemeier

   WASHINGTON - Top U.S. Democratic presidential candidates are spending a
   final day sparring with each other ahead of Tuesday's crucial party
   primary in New Hampshire, trying to gain an early advantage in the race
   to oppose Republican President Donald Trump in next November's national
   election.

   The contest in the rural northeastern state has taken on added
   consequence in the aftermath of a split vote in last week's Iowa
   caucuses that were remembered mostly for the agonizingly slow release
   of the final outcome that was linked to a wrongly coded app used in
   collecting vote totals from throughout the farm state.

   In the end, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, edged
   Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-declared democratic socialist, in
   Iowa, but pre-election polls show Sanders ahead of Buttigieg in New
   Hampshire. Three other contenders are also hoping for a good showing in
   Tuesday's vote: former Vice President Joe Biden and Sens. Elizabeth
   Warren of Massachusetts and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, all of whom
   trailed the leaders in Iowa.

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